SYNOPTIC AND CLIMATOLOGICAL FEATURES – JANUARY

1. General Weather Summary. The months of January and February constitute the
winter season for the country. January is taken as the representative month of the
season. The surface air temperatures start falling from November, December and
January is the coldest month. The lowest temperatures are recorded over North India
during this month. The important feature is clear skies, low humidity and low
temperatures with large diurnal range. The weather over most parts of Bay of Bengal is
partly cloudy to mainly clear. However, moderate squally weather accompanied by light
thunder activity is noticed on some occasions over extreme southern parts of Bay and
off East coast of Sri Lanka.

2. Mean Sea Level Pressure. High pressure values are seen over the Northern parts
and lower pressure values over southern parts of India. The pressure gradient is weak
over entire country. A weak ridge runs from west Rajasthan to central India. Another
ridge line runs along the east coast of the peninsula.

3. Surface Wind and Visibility. The winds are Variable/ Northeasterly 05 – 10 Kts over
North Bay and Central Bay and 08 – 12 Kt over South Bay and South Andaman Sea.
Visibility is generally moderate except during formation of fog, mist and haze off West
Bengal and Orissa coast especially during morning hours due to passage of eastward
moving Western disturbances over eastern parts of the country.

4. Cyclonic Storms and Depressions. In the Bay of Bengal very few Depressions/
Cyclonic storms form during this month. The salient features are as follows:-
(a) Formation. These systems usually originate between the latitude 5 and 8 Deg N
and west of longitude 92 Deg E.
(b) Movement. They generally move initially in WNW'ly direction and thereafter move
further in westerly direction and cross Tamilnadu Coast or North East Coast of Sri
Lanka.
(c) Frequency. During the past 30 years (1992 – 2021), a total of 04 Depressions
(frequency 0.13 per year) had developed over the Bay in the month of Dec, out of these
02 (frequency 0.06 per year) intensified into Cyclonic Storms/ Severe Cyclonic Storms
over the Bay of Bengal.

5. Western disturbances. These western Disturbances are noticed on synoptic charts

as low level cyclonic circulations, troughs, low pressure areas, depressions or induced
systems. These systems give rainfall all along their track followed by cold wave
conditions after passage, usually two to three Western disturbances are expected in
each of the winter months, which affect the weather over North Bay, West Bengal and
Orissa coast.

6. Sea State. The Sea State over North Bay and Central Bay is 1 – 2 and 2 over South
Bay and South Andaman Sea.

7. Swell. The direction of Swell over Bay of Bengal is generally NE – ENE'ly and height
of the order of 0.5 m to 1.0 m over North Bay, West Central Bay and East Central Bay,
whereas 1.0 to 1.5 m over South West Bay and South East Bay of Bengal.